Eurobishop

The first confirmation in Leipzig English Church since 1999 was held on Advent Sunday 27 November when I administered the apostolic rite to 3 teenagers and 3 adults. English priests were first posted to Leipzig in 1868. All Saints Church, which was located in the memorably named Sebastian-Bach-Strasse, was destroyed by allied bombing in World War II. A new congregation was planted in 1995 by the Revd Martin Reakes-Williams, who still serves as chaplain. Leipzig English Church is a truly international community. There are many Germans who attend (even though the services are in English), but I also met members from Ireland, the USA, Iraq, Canada, Nigeria, Cameroon, and even some from England! The congregation is also supporting one of their members who is in the process of discernment of vocation to the priesthood.  The membership was once largely students, but in recent years the congregation has seen a sizable growth among young families with children. Leipz...

It is not unusual for our parish priests in Spain to travel over 1000 km in a week in the course of their routine pastoral duties. Fr Hugh Broad, the priest-in-charge of Costa Almería and Costa Cálida, (a pastoral charge the size of Wales), has taken advantage of a provision in the diocese to authorise Congregational Worship Leaders to assist with the ministry and outreach over this vast territory. Congregational Worship Leaders, after appropriate local training, are authorised to lead services of the word and assist in the liturgical life of the parish. Three new Congregational Worship Leaders were installed in the parish on the Feast of Christ the King, Sunday 20 November. They are pictured above in the Church at Mojácar. In the background is Fr Hugh Broad (centre), Fr Alan Bennett (assistant priest) and Reader Duncan Burr.

During a recent visit to the parish of Costa Azahar I was able to pay a courtesy call on the Bishop of Tortosa, the Most Revd Dr Xavier Salinas i Viñals, whose churches we borrow.  My meetings with Spanish bishops are always interesting and very cordial. I wasn’t expecting, however, to  have a conversation with Bishop Xavier about the great Anglican classic text by Archbishop Michael Ramsey, The Gospel and the Catholic Church . Much to my surprise I learned that Ramsey’s great work has just been published in Catalan translation! Bishop Xavier is proud of one of his predecessors, (a Dutchman born in Utrecht), who became Pope Adrian VI in 1522, just five years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses against indulgences on the church door in Wittenberg. Pope Adrian VI apparently admitted that some of the disorder in the Church was the fault of the curia itself. He was Pope for only 18 months, but it is intriguing to imagine how Church history might be different had...

On Sunday 20th November, the Feast of Christ the King, the Revd Sara MacVane was licensed as assistant priest in St Andrew's Zurich by the Archdeacon of Switzerland, the Venerable Peter Potter. Sara served her title curacy in All Saints Rome where she also worked part time at the Anglican Centre in Rome. She then moved to Pas de Calais, where she was priest-in-charge for two years. Sara speaks fluent Italian, has a working knowledge of French, and will now add German to her language skills. She joins the team in St Andrew's led by the Chaplain, the Revd Canon John Newsome. One of the Readers in the parish, Brother Marcel Benedict, is in the photo above, along with Sara, Fr Newsome and the Archdeacon (in the chasuble). Of course, Sara is the one without the beard! The website of St Andrew's Zurich, one of the largest and liveliest parishes of the diocese is here . There are daughter churches served from Zurich in St Gallen, Turgi and Zug.

Bishop Joachim Vobbe, Old Catholic Co-Chairman of AOCICC  The other official Anglican-Old Catholic activity to report on this month was the meeting of the AOCICC in York from 4 to 8 November. I have to admit it is not the most mellifluous acronym, but AOCICC stands for the Anglican-Old Catholic International Coordinating Council. It is the official instrument serving the relationship of our two respective families of Churches, a relationship of full communion established by the Bonn Agreement of 1931 . Two people from our diocese, myself and Mrs Maryon  Jägers  of Holy Trinity Church, Utrecht, are among the Anglican Communion representatives appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on AOCICC. At the meeting an important paper on ecclesiology and mission, Belonging Together in Europe,  was finalised and will now be presented to the authorities of our Communions for evaluation and reception. The members worked hard and prayed hard for 5 days. The only t...

November has been a busy month for official Anglican-Old Catholic relations. This note covers one aspect of that activity, the (English) Society of St Willibrord.  The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held in York Minster on Saturday 5 November. St Willibrord is the patron of the relations between our Churches. He was the Northumbrian born missionary to Frisia and Northern Germany in the 8 th century. He founded many bishoprics, including that of Utrecht. The Archbishop of Utrecht is, today, the first among equals in the Old Catholic hierarchy. The AGM began with a solemn Eucharist in York Minster, at which the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill presided, assisted by the (Old Catholic) Bishop Emeritus of Germany, the Rt Revd Joachim Vobbe. The Bishop of Haarlem, the Rt Revd Dick Schoon preached. My chaplain, Deacon Frances Hiller, is a member of the executive of the Society of St Willibrord, and led the intercessions. Although the r...

Here are November's book recommendations. Thanks, once again, to Dr Martin Davie, the theological advisor to the Church of England's bishops, for these thorough reviews. (Martin - where do you get all the time to read?)  This month's selection includes works on Methodism, Inter-faith relations, Anglicanism, preaching and the increasingly important area of Christian apologetics. Also, given the nature of the questions that come to my office each day, I would say that the volume on Church law should be standard reading for clergy, churchwardens and readers. Feliç   lectura! Click  on the  read more  link for the reviews.